Mushroom Stoup

Stew or soup….I’m not really sure, this version is probably more soupy. I tried to recreate one of the dishes I had at the Hearty Squirrel’s ‘Climate-friendly food workshop’ (see picture below), though admittedly this version isn’t so climate friendly (the porchini mushrooms were from China and I have no idea where all the bits in the soup mix came from, oops). The great thing about the original was that all the ingredients were from Scotland! They put dumplings in it too which made it more stew-like. But anyway, here’s my version…

Makes 6 portions – me and Alex just kept reheating it and ate it for 3 days straight it was so good! 

Ingredients:

50g dried porchini mushrooms

2 medium sized chestnut mushrooms, chopped

Half a bag of kale (~50g), leaves removed from stalks

1 large carrot, chopped

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 leek, chopped

100g soup mix (usually contains dried pearl barley, lentils, various peas and beans etc)

2 pints veg stock

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Herbs to taste (I used oregano, rosemary, sage, black pepper and salt)

Method:

1. In advance of making the soup, rehydrate the dried porchini mushrooms (rinse thoroughly, soak for 2 hours in cold water, drain and rinse, soak for 30 mins in hot water) and soak the soup mix (overnight in cold water is best).
2. Prepare the veg and heat up the oil in a large pan. When the oil is hot, add the onion and leeks and gently fry till the onion turns clear. Mix in the herbs and garlic.
3. Next add the chestnut mushrooms and carrot. If you have a muslin cloth or something similar, strain the liquid that the porchini mushrooms soaked in and add that too before adding the mushrooms themselves (this will remove any remaining grit off the mushrooms). If you don’t (I didn’t) just throw it all in but it might be a bit gritty once you get to the bottom of the pan! Add the soup mix, then the stock, bring to the boil, and simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots and soup mix have gone soft. Add the kale 5-10 minutes before the end.

 

 - and here's the one I had at the workshop!

Vegan Pancakes

This morning I had a huge craving for pancakes but we didn’t have any eggs, so I started Googling vegan pancake recipes. The same recipe kept coming up so I tried it and it was AMAZING. I’ll never put eggs in pancakes again, they tasted exactly the same as ‘normal’ ones, actually I’d even say better!

The only thing is the recipe was measured in cups, I have a cup measurer but it was dirty so Alex realised we could use a measuring jug instead (yeah, we’re that lazy)! 1 cup = 250ml. Also this recipe is for ‘American’ style stacked pancakes rather than thin crepes. 

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup milk (soy/rice/dairy/etc - I used oat)

2 tbsp sunflower oil (plus extra for greasing the frying pan)

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a big bowl. When well combined mix in the milk and oil and beat until the batter is smooth. At this point you can add in any extra ingredients such as fruit and nuts – we used a small handful of sultanas and walnuts.

2. Heat up a little oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. The recipes I found online said to use ¼ of a cup of batter per pancake but we used a ladle and they got pretty big, so it depends what size you want. Either way cook them for approx. 2 minutes on each side, gently moving around so they don’t stick. When bubbles start to appear on the surface it’s a good indication to flip it over. 

3. Serve topped with butter, golden syrup, peanut butter, chocolate spread, honey…anything you can think of!

WARNING: These are ridiculously filling, I ate two and felt overfull…but I guess I did cover one with peanut butter. Ughhhhh food coma.

#nomstagram November/December

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November and December have been very good months for food! Obviously there's Christmas, but also I explored Edinburgh more and found some great vegetarian/vegetarian-friendly restaurants (not all pictured here but I do plan to write about them soon). I also attended two cooking workshops (one of which I helped facilitate!) which I loved so much and will hopefully get the chance to do again this year. Happy new year!

1. Cake selection at Clarinda's Tea Room near Holyrood Park, perfect after a climb up Arthur's Seat!
2. Polenta chips with roasted veg
3. Veg haul from Hearty Squirrel
4. Raw nori rolls at the Hearty Squirrel Raw Food Workshop
5. Chocolate sorbet and pumpkin ice cream at The Beach House Cafe in Portobello
6. Alex and his triple berry sundae at The Beach House
7. Packed lunch on my first day at work!
8. Veg and lentil curry
9. Courgette pasta with basil pesto
10. Avocado, cucumber and sweet bean curd sushi at No1 Sushi Bar (not pictured: veg tempura and Japanese dumplings)
11. Cauldron sausages with garlicy kale and mushrooms
12. Mediterranean veg and ricotta tart made by Alex
13. Cauldron sausages with roasted veg
14. Favourite sweet treat at the moment - Tunnock's Tea Cakes!
15. Meal at the Hearty Squirrel Climate Friendly Cooking Workshop - Mushroom 'stoup' (stew/soup), potato/celeriac/leek mash, pear cake, pearl barley/kale/beetroot salad and pumpkin seed mayo coleslaw
16. Avocado and cucumber sushi made by Alex
17. Quorn mince lasagne...again made by Alex
18. Avocado Salad with hummus and pitta bread
19. Beautiful squash!
20. Christmas dinner
21. What I had when my family ate smoked salmon at Christmas - smoked quorn ham and sour cream bilinis, ha!

Polenta

Oh polenta, I love you. 

I only tried polenta for the first time about a year and half ago in a restaurant and instantly fell in love. I had polenta ‘stacks’ – thick pieces of fried/baked polenta – with roasted vegetables, and this is all I’ve really done with it since (you can make a creamier almost soup like dish too and use it in baking but I haven’t tried that yet). 

My favourite way to make them is in the form of herby ‘chips’. Great when you want something substantial and comforting but can’t quite face potato based chips. Serve with roasted veg, curry, anything really. Or just pig out on a big bowl with some mayo!

Herby Polenta Chips

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100g polenta

400ml veg stock (I use the Marigold Bouillon powder and like to add extra for this so the polenta really takes on the flavour)

Herbs to taste (I use rosemary, sage, black pepper and oregano)

Method:

1. Bring the stock to boil in a pan. When boiling, slowly add the polenta in a steady stream, stirring continuously. Turn down the heat and simmer for a minute or two, making sure you keep stirring. NOTE: It gets pretty...volcanic...at this stage so watch out it doesn’t sputter and burn you! Just turn the heat down and keep stirring.  

2. Take off the heat and spread out on a greased baking tray as if you were making brownies. Sprinkle the herbs on top and gently press in (careful not to burn your fingers!). Leave to cool for about 20 minutes. 

3. When cooled down a bit, cut into thick rectangles. You can either serve them now or fry them up a bit to make them crispy – I would definitely recommend the latter. Just lightly fry them for a bit in olive oil on each side, adding more herbs if you want. Do this until they get to your desired crispyness, then serve!

Note: However much you make, a good rule is to use 4x as much stock as you do polenta i.e. 100g polenta = 400ml stock. 50g is a generous portion size for one person.